Change Your Brain Every Day - Remedies That Can Help You Against COVID-19, with Dr. Josh Axe

Episode Date: January 25, 2021

As the coronavirus death toll continues to climb, many are searching for answers as to why some people who get the virus only have light symptoms while others die. In this week’s series of the podcast, Dr. Daniel and Tana Amen are joined by “Ancient Remedies” author Dr. Josh Axe for a discussion on the tried and true wellness techniques that have been practiced throughout history, and why these strategies could now be more important than ever.  For more info on Dr. Axe's new book, "Ancient Remedies", visit https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Remedies-Essential-Powerful-Medicine/dp/0316496456  

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain spec imaging to personalize treatment to your brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com.

The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to brainmd.com. Welcome, everyone. We are very excited to have Dr. Josh Axe back with us. This is his second time on the Brain Warriors Way podcast. He's the founder of Ancient Nutrition and DrAxe.com, certified doctor of natural medicine. He's a chiropractor, a clinical nutritionist, and he has a passion to help people get healthy by empowering them to use nutrition to fuel their health, which we absolutely agree with. He's the best-selling author of Keto Diet, Eat Dirt, and Collagen Diet, and the author of the upcoming book, Ancient Remedies, out February 2nd. Josh, so good to see you. Welcome. Hey, thanks. It's great to be here i uh i wanted to mention too recently my mom

sent me a text message she was watching daniel i think one of your dr daniel one of your uh pbs specials and she was like this guy is brilliant i said he he definitely is so anyways i know i've had you guys on my podcast over the years and i just always enjoy you know talking about food is medicine and all other things so it's medicine or it's poison that's right and you know during the pandemic people initially just reached for anything they could get yeah the show were not we couldn't get the same things I mean even I noticed it fortunately I am a prepper but still um I food. But when I went to the grocery store, the normal, fresh vegetables and foods were not quite as available, right? We were doing the best we could.

And people were more permissive with themselves and with their children because they were just tired of being stuck in the house. So talk to us about ancient remedies and why this book and why now? Yeah. So, you know, I think when you look at obviously where the world's at today, it's more important than ever that we take care of our immune systems. Well, it's interesting, you know, Dr. Daniel and Tanya, I ended up, this was probably, oh, almost a year ago. I mean, right when COVID, all this stuff, people were talking about it.

And I started, I did a podcast talking about ancient remedies for our immune system. And I talked about things like bone broth. I talked about garlic and ginger, all these foods. And then I talked about vitamin D and zinc. And I got a few comments from people in the medical profession who said, how can you say that? Like, are you saying you can treat this with this? That won't help. And it was kind of interesting. And now research is coming out showing vitamin D, just how critical it is and zinc and these nutrients. And so anyways, my perspective is always looking at, okay, I think modern science, it's important for us to look at, but also I really believe that these ancient remedies that physicians have used in Chinese medicine, Ayurveda and other forms of medicine that have been used throughout history are very effective.

And here's the other thing. They're very safe for the body. And so for me, you know, when I look at I always try and step back and look at things at a big picture. And that's what both of I know you guys do when you guys are practicing because you guys practice more of that, you know, forms of natural and functional medicine as you care for patients. And so I always try and look at this big picture of approaches, you know, what are the side effects of doing this or this? And all that being said, you know, one of the things we're seeing with people that have any form of COVID is they are typically have immunodeficiency or another condition that puts them at risk. And we all know that if we improve our diets, we're going to naturally have a lesser rate of

getting these other conditions. All that being said, I really believe if we start using food as medicine and using ancient remedies, that's going to help strengthen our immune systems. For instance, the ancient remedies for a cold and flu were, if you went to a practitioner, they would say, drink chicken soup and have ginger herbal tea. When I was growing up, my mom gave me something similar. Unfortunately, my mom bought me canned chicken soup that had MSG and white flour noodles and all this stuff. And then she gave me ginger ale. And then actually they didn't have ginger. But she gave me actually, if they didn't have ginger ale, she thought seven up was a good replacement. So I always drank that. But like, where did she get that idea? Like that was, you know, those are ancient prescriptions that our great grandmother learned. And it was used in Greek medicine and Jewish medicine,

actually called Jewish penicillin chicken soup, but also ancient Chinese medicine. So, and we know based on even colors, according to Chinese medicine, foods that are light yellow are the ones that are most supportive for the lungs and colon or your immune system. So think about chicken broth. Nobody says beef broth when you're sick. They say chicken broth. Chicken broth contains really unique nutrients that are supportive of your immune system. Onions and garlic and ginger, that light yellow color, miso soup. So all these foods support our immune system. So all that being said, I really think, hey, if we're looking to support our immune systems, eating a diet that's rich in vegetables, fruit, wild organic meat is

sort of ideal. And then getting nutrients I mentioned earlier, the zinc, the vitamin D3 and vitamin C and vitamin A to a degree as well. I love what you're saying. And I completely agree. And it always bothers me when we get pushed back and those of us who are in this camp get pushed back on, oh, diet doesn't really matter from the medical community. It's really irritating. Or it doesn't matter, that's not going to build your immune system. The only thing that builds your immune system is medications or vaccines. We're not anti-medication, let me make it clear. We're not anti-vaccine. But let's be honest, your diet matters. It matters a lot because it's about the inflammation. So when foods that

increase inflammation trash your immunity, right? So all the foods you're discussing right now, what you're saying is that's going to decrease inflammation like a lot. Yeah, it's important. You know, I think anytime we can decrease inflammation and give our body more nutrients. And here's the other thing I've shared with my patients in the past and people I work with today is that here's the thing that's important to know is your body, you want to strengthen the body.

Like a lot of times I see practitioners saying, hey, take this natural antibiotic, which I think would be good, whether it's oil of oregano or some of these herbals. But I think the thing that we want to have in mind is the body heals itself and it's your body that can fight off the virus. Like your body produces actually certain compounds like interferon that actually kills the virus. And so, you know, your body can kill off the virus if it's strong enough. That's the big difference is when somebody is, you know, more at risk, they tend to be immune and efficient, have a preexisting condition or be over the age of 70, according to,, according to the CDC and World Health Organization.

And again, I think the big thing we can do to combat that is, again, use these foods as medicine, get more nutrients in our diet, and just generally have our bodies just be healthier. Well, one of the things Tana always says is you can't show up on fight day and expect to do well. Wow, that's good. So we are- You have to train every day. We are in fight day right now with this pandemic that seems to be accelerating. And so what are the things, Josh, you think are most important for our listeners to do to strengthen their immune system and you know what i always say if it strengthens your immune system it's probably strengthening your brain right yeah because

everything works together yeah so i would say this number one tip and this may not be what people expect is but start off every day by fostering positive emotions. I do this with what I call a spiritual triathlon. I spend five minutes getting grateful. I spend five minutes reading something like a personal growth book or a Bible or something spiritual. And I spend about five minutes in prayer meditation. So I spend at least 15 minutes to an hour every morning, first thing doing that. And studies are showing- You're a triathlon. I love that. Yeah. And I used to be a triathlon. I love that. Yeah. And I used to be a triathlete years ago. So anyways, all that being said,

I do that in the mornings. I can just tell you, it makes such a difference in my day. I go through the day more grateful, more loving, more kind. And so I really focus on it because we're living in a state today of fear and different emotions affect different organ systems. We know the emotion of fear really affects your adrenal glands and reproductive organs. We know worry affects your stomach and your upper GI. Grief or not letting go of things in the past, those sort of fears actually affect your immune system. So all that being said, foster those positive emotions in the morning is one of the first things we can do to help heal our bodies and our immune systems.

After that, I would just say really focus on a diet that is going to be rich in vegetables, some fruit, especially things like berries, and then wild organic meat like wild caught salmon, grass fed beef, and they get lots of healthy fats, get the coconut oil in coconut, do olives and extra virgin olive oil, and things like avocados, even tahini, things like that. Some, you know, I think those are the things we want to be getting to support our immune system. And the other big one is bone broth. I really love bone broth. It's rich in collagen. That's going to also help really 70% of your intestinal lining tissue is made up of collagen. And so getting bone broth or collagen is going to help with that. And then I think probiotics are really important as well. Sauerkraut is an incredible superfood that's going to support

your body in that way as well. So that's really what I'd start. And what other category of foods I think that's especially important to remember when we're caring for our immune systems, and that is mushrooms, especially medicinal mushrooms. Go ahead. Uh, cause I want to talk about mushrooms. Um, we have mushrooms every day. Uh, so, but we have to get to the next podcast.

Let's do it. Uh, ancient remedies, Josh, what's the best way for people to connect with you and learn more about your work? Yeah. Well,

number one, I would check out the new book, ancient remedies. You can go to amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com or your local bookstore and just search Dr. Axe Ancient Remedies. Check it out there. You can also find me on my website, draxe.com. Awesome. What'd you learn during this podcast? Write it down. Take a picture of it. Post it on any of your social media sites. Hashtag Dr. Axe. Hashtag Bring Words Away Podcast. Share it.

Because what we've learned is you have to get this information. And then you have to give it away. Because it is in the act of giving that you keep it. It's clearly part of spiritual fitness, giving away what you know and creating your own support. Stay with us. If you're enjoying the Brain Warriors Way podcast, please don't forget to subscribe so you'll always know when there's a new episode. And while you're at it, feel free to give us a review or five-star rating as that helps others find the podcast. If you're interested in coming to Amen Clinics, use the code PODCAST10 to get a 10% discount on a full evaluation at amenclinics.com.

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